New Medical Study: Take Breaks if you have to sit for long periods. It’s much better for your health

The report from Columbia University’s Exercise Testing Lab emphasizes not only the length of time you sit but also whether you do it without interruptions.

Building on a growing body of evidence about the dangers of the modern sedentary workplace and lifestyle, a team of researchers has found that long periods of uninterrupted sitting can lead to earlier death — regardless of how much a person exercises and even when accounting for age, gender and other factors. The survey, considered one of the largest of its kind, was published Monday in a scholarly medical journal. –Washington Times, reporting on study in The Annals of Internal Medicine (link here)

According to the study’s lead author: “most surprising findings were that it wasn’t just the total number of hours of sitting accumulated over the day, but that uninterrupted sitting over long periods such as 60 to 90 minutes, increased the risk for early death.”